Daybell trial: Vallow's husband seeks different verdict in kids' killings

Jury selection begins in Chad Daybell trial

Chad Daybell is the fifth husband of Lori Vallow Daybell, the woman convicted of murdering and conspiring to kill her two kids and her husband’s late wife.

Chad Daybell, husband of "cult mom" Lori Vallow, is set to stand trial in Idaho this week for the murders of his wife's two children and his first wife in 2019.

The pair is at the center of multiple murder cases involving not only Vallow's two children but both her and Chad's deceased ex-spouses. They were initially scheduled to have a joint trial, but Chad's defense attorneys got a separate trial for the self-published author in 2022, citing "mutually antagonistic defenses" between the two cases.

"Our version of the facts of this case will differ greatly from what Ms. Vallow and her legal counsel are going to be presenting," said John Prior, Daybell's attorney, during a Nov. 10, 2022, court proceeding.

An Idaho jury in May 2023 found Vallow, 50, guilty on multiple counts, including two counts of first-degree murder, for the 2019 disappearances and deaths of 7-year-old J.J. Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, allegedly with help from her husband. Vallow also conspired to kill Tammy Daybell, Chad's first wife, in October 2019.

Chad Daybell sits during a court hearing, Aug. 4, 2020, in St. Anthony, Idaho. The trial of Daybell, who is charged with the deaths of his wife and his girlfriend's two youngest children, is set to begin in Idaho on Monday, April 1, 2024, serving as ( (John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register/Pool)

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Vallow was also found guilty of grand theft after she collected J.J.'s and Tylee's Social Security benefits – allegedly with help from Daybell – between Oct. 1, 2019, and Jan. 22, 2020, after their murders.

J.J. and Tylee were found in shallow graves on Chad Daybell's Rexburg, Idaho, property in June 2020, months after they disappeared from their home in September 2019. The 16-year-old's remains were burned while the 7-year-old was bound in duct tape.

Lori Vallow Daybell, 49, and her most recent husband, Chad Daybell, 54, are accused of killing two of Vallow Daybell's two children and collecting social security benefits in their names after their deaths. (Tony Blakeslee/East Idaho News)

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The Ada County coroner testified that J.J. died of asphyxiation by a plastic bag and Tylee died of homicide by unknown means due to the fact that her remains were dismembered and badly burned before they were buried.

Vallow and Daybell jetted off to Hawaii while the children were missing – and directly after Tammy Daybell's death – in 2019 to get married.

Lori Vallow, right, and Chad Daybell are accused of killing Vallow's two kids and Daybell's first wife. (Facebook and Tony Blakeslee/East Idaho News)

Vallow and Daybell met in 2018 at the Preparing a People conference, where they bonded over their apocalyptic religious beliefs and shared the idea that they had been married in a past life, as FOX 10 Phoenix first reported.

They referred to each other as Biblical figures named James and Elena and discussed their beliefs that people can have light or dark spirits – some so dark that they could be considered zombies who needed to be removed from Earth, prosecutors said, according to FOX 10.

Lori and Chad Daybell are accused of killing 17-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old J.J. Vallow in 2019. (Rexberg Police Department)

Authorities arrested Vallow in February 2020 and Daybell in June 2020. Vallow and Daybell were initially scheduled to have a joint trial, but Vallow refused to waive her right to a speedy trial while Daybell did not.

Daybell has written several apocalyptic novels based loosely on Mormon theology. Both were involved in a group that promotes preparedness for the biblical end times.

Chad Daybell (left) and Lori Vallow (right)

Prosecutors said Vallow's case was not about religion but about "money, power and sex."

Vallow was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on five separate counts in July.

"You removed your children from their home in Arizona, alienated them from friends and family … and you brought them here to murder them. You had so many other options. … You chose the most evil and destructive path possible," Judge Steven Boyce said during Vallow's sentencing hearing. "I don’t think to this day you have any remorse for the effort and heartache you caused."

Officials extradited Vallow to Arizona, where she faces one first-degree murder charge and one premeditated first-degree murder charge in Maricopa County, in November 2023.